Mothers group charged as extremists for criticizing '04 Russian school siege

January 22, 2008|By Alex Rodriguez, Chicago Tribune

MOSCOW -- With Russian President Vladimir Putin's crackdown on opponents showing no signs of relenting, Russian authorities have gradually transformed a controversial "anti-extremism" law initially meant for skinheads and ultranationalists into a cudgel against journalists, liberal commentators and opposition leaders, government critics say.

Now, a prosecutor in southern Russia is applying the law to the mothers of children who died in the 2004 siege on a school in Beslan, modern Russia's worst terrorist act.

Their alleged crime? Slandering Putin in their request to the United States for an independent investigation into the siege.

Extremism charges have been filed against the Voice of Beslan, about 30 survivors and mothers of victims of the siege on School No. 1 in Beslan, in the heart of Russia's volatile North Caucasus region.

Islamic militants stormed the building on the first day of school and took more than 1,100 children, teachers and parents hostage. A daylong firefight between militants and Russian soldiers broke out during a rescue attempt two days later, ending in the deaths of 334 hostages, more than half of whom were children.

Voice of Beslan mothers and many others have never accepted the government's contention that the militants were solely responsible for the carnage. The mothers say excessive force used by Russian commandos during the siege contributed to the death toll and ultimately the Kremlin's handling of the rescue attempt made a grim moment in Russian history even worse.

Magomed Aushev, acting city prosecutor in Nazran, has used those assertions as the basis for a charge of extremism against Voice of Beslan. Aushev contends Voice of Beslan slandered Putin by saying the Russian leader bears responsibility for the botched rescue attempt and therefore the deaths of the hostages.

An amendment to Russia's anti-extremism law signed by Putin in 2006 expands the definition of extremist activity to include slandering a public official. If prosecutors win a conviction against Voice of Beslan, authorities could suspend the organization's operations.

"How can people who suffered from a terrorist act become extremists themselves?" said Ella Kesayeva of Voice of Beslan. Her daughter, Zarina, 12, survived the siege. "We're the ones looking for the truth . . . for a country where laws are followed and where children don't die in terrorist acts. And we're the ones accused of extremism."

The charges mark the latest controversial application of Russia's anti-extremism law, enacted in 2002 to combat a growing intolerance in Russia for immigrants from the Caucasus region and Central Asia.